Lets relook at the facts. HGH and steroids are miracle drugs that used under doctors supervision can be a huge benefit to the NFL in the recovery and comeback from injury and the usual week to week NFL grind.

If teams monitored usage safely, and not some underground supplier, players could greatly benefit.

does "deer antler" extract have any adverse effects? Does I t really help? Did Ray Lewis come back from a potential season ending injury because of this extract? If he did, shouldn't the NFL be trying to help the players get healthier faster?

Prather than ignore the fact, hide it under the rug, or simply ban it, I prefer the NFL to embrace it to help players recover and comeback, as long as there are no adverse effects.

If they did some thing like this might as well make it championship wrasslin. I can see this med used to heal the player but not to help them come back in the season.

I bet you would have Drs that would make the players sign waivers so their not liable years down the road.

I'm with rkarp on this. We're not talking about old school stacking of winstrol and dianabol and guys injecting themselves in the parking lot anymore like in Alzado's day. HGH, testosterone and the like are perfectly safe, taken by millions of men (who don't play pro sports) and have significant health benefits. Why shouldn't athletes take them under the supervision of a doctor?

What if some player has an injury, why don't we want him to take the best stuff that is healthy and legal and will help him get back as quickly as he can? All under the care of a team doctor. Why don't we want older guys to have longer careers?

Oh yeah, we're worried that Hank Aaron's records or Babe Ruth's records won't mean as much. Who cares? Progress happens, get over it. Competition is better than it was in the 1920s. Babe Ruth never faced left handed relief specialists who threw 98 mph, or split-fingered fastballs or black or hispanic athletes. His records should have an asterisk.

I don't have any problem with the proper use of drugs in sports to alleviate medical problems. The issue is that there is a reason for the 'PED' designation as in performance enhancing. And saying administered by a doctor doesn't mean much - there are always people on the fringe of the medical profession who stretch the limits for financial gain.

We know that steroids are used to build muscle mass and increase speed, both factors in increased violence in collisions. And overuse can lead to all kinds of bad medical results. The differance between an NFL contract and working at Walmart might be 10 lbs of muscle mass or an extra step so the immediate benefit to an athlete is huge and the incentive is there to misuse. I think it is the responsibilty of the 'authorities' to try and police sports and the only way is to ban them outright.

On HGH and deer antler and ... - there results of using are a little more unknown. I don't have a problem with an injured player using medicine to heal and I think there might be more leeway in the policing in those situations.

Dude....you can open your eyes and ears and learn.....or you can be obstinate...

Read the article...nasal or oral....nothing in common with Steroids in sports.

I hope you haven't been pumping iron all these years waiting for those "steroids" to work their magic?

No results eh...oh well....at least you will live longer............

Wow, way to jump to unsupported conclusions! How can you expect anyone to respect your opinions when you always do this? You should also learn to educate yourself as you are telling rkarp to do and stop being so ignorant.

Dude....you can open your eyes and ears and learn.....or you can be obstinate...

Read the article...nasal or oral....nothing in common with Steroids in sports.

I hope you haven't been pumping iron all these years waiting for those "steroids" to work their magic?

No results eh...oh well....at least you will live longer............

Wow, way to jump to unsupported conclusions! How can you expect anyone to respect your opinions when you always do this? You should also learn to educate yourself as you are telling rkarp to do and stop being so ignorant.

I'd agree with using the antler spray and HGH but only if it was found to do no damage at all to the user otherwise making a drug that actually hurts the user in the long term would be very unethical. I'd also have the condition that the drug can only be used to the point of the injury being healed. I'll never be happy with the use of anabolic steriods as a way of getting ahead, it's a level playing field only under 2 conditions:

1) Everyone on drugs2) Everyone Clean

If you're on steroids and you're not supposed to be it's cheating, it has to be. Any unfair advantage used is cheating. Ray Lewis is clearly or was clearly on something to get his arm ready to playin time otherwise it's just an impossibility, it can't be done. It's not like AP coming back from his ACL early it's like AP coming back twice as fast again say if he had been ready to play in July. Terrell Suggs also must have almost certainly cheated when coming back from his Achilles, i'm not being cynical because they're ravens either it's because they went ahead and took the pi ss out of the league. It's like 2 kids who've done something bad who run away from the evidence but leave it for everyone to see, it's only a matter of time before the truth comes out. I mean Ray Lewis is 37.....COME ON!!

Steroids, HGH... any PEDs are simply technological advancements. It would be silly to completely ignore them, label those who use them as 'cheaters', and attempt to ban them.

I have no problem with the NFL banning HGH... I think you'll see a lot of guys around the league shrink down and it'll make the game safer... players will look like they did 10-20 years ago.

With that said, to act like PEDs are some horrific act of cheating... complete nonsense. They're technological advancements and I have no problem with players using them.

Watch out....the slippery slope is a funny thing.

So how do you handle PED's that are being used not to enhance one's performance but to mask the use of Steroids or HGH substances?

PEDS are "OK" but they mask Steroids or HGH so ergo everything slips in the back door?

I do think your statement that banning HGH is interesting. The game may well end up being safer. Less injuries, less concusions would be of great benifit to the game. And to the human eye the difference in the game would not even be noticed. hey it may even put an end to the ending things like the kick off and a host of other stupid ideas when banning the crap in the first place restore and keeps the game intact.

And those who have no problem with them - how about having doctors on the sidelines with syrnges of speed, so you can get your kick returned juiced just before the kick, or your WR juiced just before he runs a fly route?